Cutting a hole in the door frame, such as the one you have, has severely weakened the door frame.

The first time the door slams against the side of the trailer, it will bend the frame at the inner side of that hole.

The interior sheetmetal, is not enough to protect the frame from bending.

It is also possible to bend the frame by just slamming the door closed, against a good gasket.

If that happens, you will notice a gap at the top and bottom of the door.

Beefing up the door frame at that new hole area, will help gain the strength back.

Also, as time has demonstrated, adding a dead bolt offers no useful purpose, if the KT lock is doing it's job.

If a burgular wants into your trailer, they will go through a window, and leave the door alone. Or they may break the window forward of the door, reach in and unlock the dead bolt and KT lock.

You can use a deadbolt that is keyed on both sides, however, for safety reasons, that is not recommended.

Should you have an emergency inside of the trailer, and the key is not in the deadbolt, you may not have time to get out, if you have to look for the key.
Therefore a deadbolt that is non-keyed on the inside, is the better choice.

All in all, if the KT lock is working and adjusted properly, "AND" the running gear is properly balanced, a deadbolt becomes excess baggage.

In my paticular Airstream it would be rather hard to break the windows for access, I have the "artic" package and the windows are covered with Polycarbonate.
Sliding the locks on the windows would not be a option either as no matter how much I oil them, time and rust have made them very hard to operate.
What I have seen that would be a possibility even in my Airstream.......people coming in through the top vents. It would be no problem to pry that thin Aluminum cover right off the roof and kick your way in. Needless to say........one has to REALLY watch their wasteline if they persue such a task!

I have a 1973 International, and I think that the factory lock is ---- well lets be charitable.
Nobody mentioned "SETBACK"! It would seem to me that a 2&3/4" backset would avoid the need to trim the deadbolt housing. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks to me that a 2&3/8 was used in the two installations in this thread.
Hernando.

Nobody mentioned "SETBACK"! It would seem to me that a 2&3/4" backset would avoid the need to trim the deadbolt housing. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks to me that a 2&3/8 was used in the two installations in this thread.

Hi Hernando, welcome to the forums...

It's funny, look at how much your door closes. When you figure the actual amount that the door overlaps the door jam you've got less than an inch. The bolt is installed as far to the exterior as possible and the receiving hole is as far as possible to the interior. If the bolt were any thicker it would have to be installed farther to the outside wall and one would have to cut through the thicker part of an extrusion, severly weakening it. RickStream stresses not to do this in his description of the project and I would agree. I actually removed the foam gasket on my screen door so that my main door would close slightly tighter allowing my bolt to be 1/16 thicker. And like I mention in my description...my newly installed bolt is the same thickness at the original and is in the same location relative to the original.

BTW I'm not sure what "backset" is.

If you like I will diagram a cross section of the door, frame and deadbolt.

Keep on 'streaming,

Steve

__________________Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts- Job 21:29

I re-read your post and now understand what you are asking. you were talking about trimming the housing NOT the deadbolt.

My deadbolt was a brand new curb lawn freebie. I'm pretty sure that changing the setback was not an option. Adding 3/8" to the setback would have almost avoided having to grind the housing. In that case I probably would choose to just cut the extra 1/8" from the extrusion and allow the housing to sit flat against the outside wall. I really don't mind how it was done though. I don't believe that the strength of either the door jam or the deadbolt housing has been compromised. The door frame is another story though and I have every intention of reinforcing it somehow.

Thanks,

Steve

__________________Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts- Job 21:29

Rickstream,
Your installation looks great! Our AS came with a deadbolt installed aftermarket and it looks very similar to the way yours was so I am hoping they didn't do any damage when they put it in. The only thing about ours is that instead of using stainless, they used a copper lock I may have to pull the housing off ours and see what cuts they made and replace with stainless. It looks so much better. Our original door lock on the AS is a hole and the rod on the inside doesn't move so I guess it stopped working at some point. Can replacement guts still be found for the original lock on a 1979 or is that too old I wonder...

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Rickstream,
Your installation looks great! Our AS came with a deadbolt installed aftermarket and it looks very similar to the way yours was so I am hoping they didn't do any damage when they put it in. The only thing about ours is that instead of using stainless, they used a copper lock I may have to pull the housing off ours and see what cuts they made and replace with stainless. It looks so much better. Our original door lock on the AS is a hole and the rod on the inside doesn't move so I guess it stopped working at some point. Can replacement guts still be found for the original lock on a 1979 or is that too old I wonder...

The company that made the entrance door locks for 78 and up into the 80's, Keeler Brass, is out of business, thank goodness.

Airstream then came out with a replacement lock kit, by GM. They too, are out of business.

Other lock kits are available, that function very well, without any problems.

Our lock did not work so we left the door closure alone and we had the lower lock replaced . Looks like the one above. it is good but to close our door we need to always use a key. The upper loce will not just close and open it is stuck in either lock or unlock mode. This works nicelcy and locks from insude as well. Very secure just do not lose the key .
good luck we had area 63 productions fix it and uwe is a master craftsman . he is in Orange , Ca. He is also on the forums and he always has time to answer qaestions.

Andy Rogozinski
Thanks for posting this. I posted on the forum today a question about the replacement lock I purchased from AS that was to replace the original lock assembly in my '78 Argosy. But when my RV guy attempted to replace the old lock he realized that the replacement lock would not work w/o major reconstruction of the door. Do you have any thoughts and suggestions on this problem? Thanks,jjusticeairstream@gmail.com

Andy Rogozinski
Thanks for posting this. I posted on the forum today a question about the replacement lock I purchased from AS that was to replace the original lock assembly in my '78 Argosy. But when my RV guy attempted to replace the old lock he realized that the replacement lock would not work w/o major reconstruction of the door. Do you have any thoughts and suggestions on this problem? Thanks,jjusticeairstream@gmail.com

What exact lock did you purchase from Airstream?

Can you post a close up photo of it?

A 78 door should not require but a very small change in order to use a lock, but the kit is part of what makes the installation easier.

Andy Rogozinski
Thanks for posting this. I posted on the forum today a question about the replacement lock I purchased from AS that was to replace the original lock assembly in my '78 Argosy. But when my RV guy attempted to replace the old lock he realized that the replacement lock would not work w/o major reconstruction of the door. Do you have any thoughts and suggestions on this problem? Thanks,jjusticeairstream@gmail.com

I just located your previous post and a photo of your Argosy.

Part of the problem is that you "do not" have a 1978 Argosy.

When i enlarged your trailer photo by 400 percent, the entrance door lock is a "KT" lock, which was last used in "1977".

Owners often state the wrong year, which in turn leads to making UPS richer, when parts have to be returned, exchanged and then the correct parts shipped out. That triples the shipping costs.

Please post your trailer serial number, and then we can better help you.

There is also a kit for a 1977 entrance door lock, which is very different than a kit for a 1978 entrance door lock.

My wife brought home a shiny new residential deadbolt lock from Home Depot tonight. Then I read this thread and showed it to her. At least we kept the receipt! We will be going with only recommended hardware for our 64 Overlander. I figure it's easier to beef up the security on the individual valuables inside the camper anyway. A good audible alarm might be a pretty good deterrent as well.